Mobile application service engine (mase)

Abstract

Third party applications are deployed as “containerized applications” on one or more wireless AP devices. The containerized applications are confined to a pre-allocated segregated disk space within a file system of a wireless AP device. The containerized applications have access to standard Linux services as well as access to advanced features provided by an AP.

1 . A wireless access point device comprising:
 a dedicated network processor;   at least one application container; and   an application manager application that monitors one or more third party applications after the one or more third party applications are installed in the at least one application container;   wherein the at least one application container includes a mobile application services engine application programming interface (API).   
     
     
         2 . The wireless access point device of  claim 1 , further comprising a container file system for use by the one or more third party applications in the application container, wherein the container file system is confined to a pre-allocated segregated disk space within a file system of the wireless access point device. 
     
     
         3 . The wireless access point device of  claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of application services that can be accessed by the one or more third party applications in the application container through the mobile application services engine API. 
     
     
         4 . The wireless access point device of  claim 3 , wherein the plurality of application services that can be accessed by the one or more third party applications in the application container through the mobile application services engine API include Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) proxy services. 
     
     
         5 . The wireless access point device of  claim 3 , wherein the plurality of application services that can be accessed by the one or more third party applications in the application container through the mobile application services engine API include fast common gateway interface (FCGI) web hosting services. 
     
     
         6 . The wireless access point device of  claim 3 , wherein the plurality of application services that can be accessed by the one or more third party applications in the application container through the mobile application services engine API include deep packet inspection (DPI) services. 
     
     
         7 . The wireless access point device of  claim 2 , wherein the container file system prevents the one or more third party applications from accessing disk space outside the container file system. 
     
     
         8 . The wireless access point device of  claim 1 , further comprising a wireless local area network (WLAN) chipset capable of connecting more than fifty wireless client connections to a wired network at the same time. 
     
     
         9 . The wireless access point device of  claim 1 , further comprising a stand-alone multi-core central processing unit (CPU).